Restoring #5 with quite some twist...

[Bram de Jong]

Hey NTH,

Been lurking, first post here! I'm restoring the first of my two second hand #5's, the purpose being user, not museum pieces;)

Now I've been grinding the sole on my piece of granite for about a 45 minutes and it looks like there is quite some twist in the sole:

372843

The 2nd #5 one is probably flatter...

I want to restore one of the two as a scrub-plane. Should I "just keep going" on this one or should I just already choose this one as the scrub...?

cheers,

Bram

[Robert Hazelwood]

If the other one is significantly better, then yeah I would just use that as the scrub. You can probably leave the sole as it is.

Also, make sure you are using appropriately coarse sandpaper (80 grit is what I'd be starting with for most vintage planes) and keep changing it as it dulls.

[Bram de Jong]

Well... I'm even using 60 right now. But the going is real damned slow...

[bridger berdel]

moving the gross material with a file works for me.

[steven c newman]

MIGHT be more of a wear issue...as the plane may have been used at a skew to the work all those years?

A scrub plane does NOT need to be perfectly flat, anyway. Just clean the plane up, camber the iron, and put it to work.

[lowell holmes]

If you will go to the BORG and purchase an iron, then grind a radius on it, it makes a great scrub plane. Buy a narrow iron for best results. I have one in a #3 plane and it works great.

[Bram de Jong]

Hey guys,

As I have two #5's I'll be using one as a scrub and one as a smoother. So it was more for deciding. I guess I'll try to have a go with a file first...

Once I cleaned both of them up and sharpened I'll use both as a smoother and then decide which one to convert to a scrub...

And, yeah, I know a scrub can be flat-ish ;)

Bram

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Bram and welcome to the Creek.

Save your self some time. The not so flat soled #5 sounds like a great candidate to use for a scrub plane.

My recent forays in to the Borgs have not found the blades they used to carry. You might want to check their on line availability first.

jtk

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Where do you live Bram? I mean generally speaking....

Last time I wanted to flatten a sole, I used a long strip of adhesive backed sand paper on my bench, which meant that I could get very long swipes rather than a bunch of back and forth. I am of the opinion that this allowed it to go faster. I expect that Steve N would simply use his belt sander, but he is way more adept at that than I.

Keep us updated on your progress.

[Bram de Jong]

Andrew, hah, yeah, I wished I had something that lengthy and flat. I'm grinding back'n'forth on approx 40cm of ledge... I'm in Berlin/Germany.

Jim&alii I have two blades (the Stanley ones) so I'm not sure why I would buy another blade. For a beginner like me I don't really see the point. :D btw quick look at the price on Amazon and whoa, for that price I bought two 5's and a 4...

Point taken about the scrub and wasting my time, but again I won't know which of these two is the superior one, so I rather wait with the conversion until I'm certain! I'm not in a hurry :)

Bram

[Pat Barry]

Andrew, hah, yeah, I wished I had something that lengthy and flat. I'm grinding back'n'forth on approx 40cm of ledge... I'm in Berlin/Germany.

Jim&alii I have two blades (the Stanley ones) so I'm not sure why I would buy another blade. For a beginner like me I don't really see the point. :D btw quick look at the price on Amazon and whoa, for that price I bought two 5's and a 4...

Point taken about the scrub and wasting my time, but again I won't know which of these two is the superior one, so I rather wait with the conversion until I'm certain! I'm not in a hurry :)

Bram
OK, you only have 40cm of ledge to work with. Are you sure that ledge is 'flat'? If not, you should cease and desist with the method you are using. Even with 40 cm of perfectly flat ledge you will be doing this for a very long time. Keep in mind that the closer you get to 'flat', the longer it takes to make the next step in significance toward true flatness. I guess what I'm saying is the easy part is over and its only going to get worse assuming you have a flat ledge to start with.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Andrew, hah, yeah, I wished I had something that lengthy and flat. I'm grinding back'n'forth on approx 40cm of ledge... I'm in Berlin/Germany.

Jim&alii I have two blades (the Stanley ones) so I'm not sure why I would buy another blade. For a beginner like me I don't really see the point. :D btw quick look at the price on Amazon and whoa, for that price I bought two 5's and a 4...

Point taken about the scrub and wasting my time, but again I won't know which of these two is the superior one, so I rather wait with the conversion until I'm certain! I'm not in a hurry :)

Bram

Berlin German, I have only been there twice. I spent significant time in Dresden, however; but it has been a while. Shipping over seas is pricey, or I might have sent you something..... And I won't suggest that you come over to work on it.

I am thankful for the space that I have, even if it often feels cramped to me.

[Bram de Jong]

Are you sure that ledge is 'flat'?

Yeah, it's at least "as flat" as my 15cm combo square from starrett, so "flat enough" in general (at least for my level of newbie-ness!). No light shines under it if I put the combo on it.

It's a piece of granite window ledge which I bought just for this purpose.

And yeah, I understand it's exponential :) I need a bigger boat/ledge! ;)

Bram

[Bram de Jong]

Thanks for the thought anyway! :)

Bram